Josh Cook picked up where he left off with the quickest time in the opening British Touring Car Championship free practice of the weekend at Oulton Park.
The BTC Racing driver topped the order early on and gradually lowered the benchmark to 1 minutes 25.882 seconds by the chequered flag.
As in earlier meetings, Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson set the pace after the opening laps with a 1:26.502 lap time, with Ciceley Motorsport driver Adam Morgan just 0.099s behind.
Both drivers dropped down the order after Cook began his weekend preparations, though Morgan was briefly able to recover second with a time 0.303s slower than Cook’s opening lap.
As Cook continued to improve, Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram jumped up the order to second. He ended the opening practice session 0.243s slower than Cook.
Morgan took third ahead of Team Dynamic’s Gordon Shedden and NAPA Racing driver Ashley Sutton.
There were few improvements late in the session, but Speedworks driver Ricky Collard left it late to set his fastest lap of the session. He had been running eighth before a time of 1:26.346 put him sixth quickest in the final two minutes of the session. The second NAPA Racing driver of Dan Cammish was knocked down to seventh. He was the final driver to finish within 0.5s of Cook’s time.
Dan Lloyd of Exceler8 Motorsport, Speedworks’ Rory Butcher, and Thompson rounded out the top 10.
The second free practice session is scheduled to start at 12:25 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 66 |  |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:25.882 | – |
| 2 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:26.125 | 0.243 |
| 3 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 20 | 1:26.185 | 0.303 |
| 4 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.238 | 0.356 |
| 5 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:26.296 | 0.414 |
| 6 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 19 | 1:26.346 | 0.464 |
| 7 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:26.381 | 0.499 |
| 8 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:26.410 | 0.528 |
| 9 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:26.482 | 0.600 |
| 10 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:26.502 | 0.620 |
| 11 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 19 | 1:26.527 | 0.645 |
| 12 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 1:26.551 | 0.669 |
| 13 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 1:26.587 | 0.705 |
| 14 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:26.624 | 0.742 |
| 15 | 50 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 20 | 1:26.640 | 0.758 |
| 16 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:26.665 | 0.783 |
| 17 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 1:26.709 | 0.827 |
| 18 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:26.754 | 0.872 |
| 19 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 1:26.882 | 1.000 |
| 20 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1:26.971 | 1.089 |
| 21 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 19 | 1:27.007 | 1.125 |
| 22 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 21 | 1:27.049 | 1.167 |
| 23 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:27.322 | 1.440 |
| 24 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:27.336 | 1.454 |
| 25 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:27.501 | 1.619 |
| 26 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 1:27.580 | 1.698 |
| 27 | 20 | |
Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 22 | 1:28.340 | 2.458 |
| 28 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 21 | 1:28.344 | 2.462 |
| 29 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 14 | 1:29.138 | 3.256 |